I was born in Würzburg, Germany, in 1968. I received my Diploma in physics from the University of Kaiserslautern in 1992, and my PhD in physics from the University of Karlsruhe in 1995. From 1995 to 1998, I was assistant research professor at the Mikroelektronik Centret, Denmark. From 1998 to 2004, I was with the University of Dortmund, where I received my Habilitation in 2003. In 2004 I was appointed Senior Lecturer in the School of Physics, Cardiff University, promoted to Reader in 2006 and to Personal Chair in 2007.

Honours and awards

Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research FellowFellow of the Learned Society of Wales

Professional memberships

I am a member of the DPG (Germany), the OSA (USA), SPIE, and the Institute of Physics (UK)